Israel announces creation of 22 settlements in West Bank

Both Britain and neighbouring Jordan slammed the move, with London calling it a "deliberate obstacle" to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli settlements in the West Bank are regularly condemned by the United Nations as illegal under international law, and are seen as one of the main obstacles to a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

The decision to establish more, taken by the country's security cabinet, was announced by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, himself a settler, and Defence Minister Israel Katz, who is in charge of managing the communities.

"We have made a historic decision for the development of settlements: 22 new communities in Judea and Samaria, renewing settlement in the north of Samaria, and reinforcing the eastern axis of the State of Israel," Smotrich said on X, using the Israeli terms for the southern and northern West Bank, which it has occupied since 1967.

"Next step: sovereignty!" he added.

Katz said the initiative "changes the face of the region and shapes the future of settlement for years to come".

Not all the 22 settlements are new, however. Some are existing outposts, while others are neighbourhoods of settlements that will become independent communities, according to the left-wing Israeli NGO Peace Now.

In a statement, Hamas accused Israel of "accelerating steps to Judaize Palestinian land within a clear annexation project".

"This is a blatant defiance of the international will and a grave violation of international law and United Nations resolutions," said the Palestinian militant group, which rules Gaza.

Western ally Jordan also condemned the move as illegal, and said it "undermines prospects for peace by entrenching the occupation".

The Jordanian foreign ministry warned that "such unilateral actions further erode the viability of a two-state solution by impeding the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state".

On Telegram, the right-wing Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the move a "once-in-a-generation decision", and said it "includes the establishment of four communities along the eastern border with Jordan, as part of strengthening Israel's eastern backbone".

The party also published a map showing the 22 sites spread across the territory.

- 'Heritage of our ancestors' -

Two of the settlements, Homesh and Sa-Nur, are particularly symbolic.

Located in the north of the West Bank, they are actually resettlements, having been evacuated in 2005 as part of Israel's disengagement from Gaza, promoted by then-prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Netanyahu's government, formed in December 2022 with the support of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties, is the most right-wing in Israel's history.

Human rights groups and anti-settlement NGOs say a slide towards at least de facto annexation of the occupied West Bank has gathered pace, particularly since the start of the Gaza war triggered by Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel.

"The Israeli government no longer pretends otherwise: the annexation of the occupied territories and expansion of settlements is its central goal," Peace Now said in a statement.

In his announcement, Smotrich offered a preemptive defence of the move, saying: "We have not taken a foreign land, but the heritage of our ancestors."

Some European governments have moved to sanction individual settlers, as did the United States under former president Joe Biden, though those measures were lifted by Donald Trump.

Britain's minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, slammed the decision as a "deliberate obstacle to Palestinian statehood", saying settlements "imperil the two state solution, and do not protect Israel".

Thursday's announcement comes ahead of an international conference to be led by France and Saudi Arabia at UN headquarters in New York next month that is meant to resurrect the idea of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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